Page 80 of Blade

Ugh.

I kept forgetting that.

“Fine. I wanted the brownies.” They were just objectively better than cake and everyone knew it unless they were ridiculously stubborn. “But I wanted you happy more than I wanted something specific.”

He was a pain in the butt and needed to stop giving me that look.

“I meant save me from other people. Not from you.” That should’ve been obvious. “I’m allowed to give you what you want because you’re my mate.”

We’d had that compromise conversation.

If he kept snickering I was going to do something rude and end up losing my bribe later. “I don’t need you to save me from you. I like giving you what you want.”

His sigh said he was going to be stubborn about that. “My mate, I’m pretty sure it’s my job to save you from me, yourself, or anyone else dangerous that you happen to collect.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a dig about the serial killer, my family, or my murder kitty, but either way I was pretty sure I should be offended.

And I was going to tell him all about it once he stopped smiling at the lake. “This is beautiful.”

Ugh.

He needed to stop being so cute.

“I thought you’d like it.” He needed new happy memories and we were going to make them together. “From the end you can see all around the lake.”

It wasn’t huge but it felt peaceful in a way I hadn’t felt before. I’d never really had a home, but if I had, I thought that feeling would be part of it.

“Oh. Be careful. You need to keep an eye out for something moving under the water.” The color was just dark enough that it was impossible to see very deep. “I’m pretty sure there’ssomething big in here because I saw eyes looking up at me from the water.”

“My mate.” Groaning, he gave me a teasing glare as we headed out onto the long deck that led to the dock. “Are you trying to get eaten by some kind of lake monster or are you just looking to get an invitation to go over for coffee?”

“Neither.” I had him to protect me. “I can’t swim.”

I was exclusively a land-based monster hunter.

“But if you want to help me figure out how to say hello, I wouldn’t talk you out of it.” Hmm. Did another sigh say he was willing to help or not? “We’re just going to be polite. Manners never got anyone eaten.”

Hopefully.

CHAPTER 26

BLAINE

“He’s rude.”Henley had been grumbling that on repeat for the past five miles, so I wasn’t worried about responding any longer. “I’m going with he because men are just ruder with that kind of stuff. A woman would’ve come to say hello.”

I wasn’t sure if agreeing with him would make me sexist or smart. The internet hadn’t given me any advice on something like this, so I stayed quiet while he huffed and grumbled.

“I wasn’t threatening him and didn’t even have a weapon on me…well…one that he could sense. The marbles are safe unless I throw them with intent and they hit something like the ground. I didn’t even have a gun or knife. You’d be better than any knife, so I’m not worried about that. He should’ve come to say hi. I’m very polite and easy to get along with.”

My mate was insane and it might be time to do my best to tactfully point that out.

“We don’t know what he is.” Something about the shape under the water said male, so I wasn’t using that because of Henley’s logic. “I can’t think of anything that used to live around here that could breathe under water.”

There was no way holding his breath for half the length of the lake was reasonable, right?

“All the more reason for him to come up and introduce himself.” Grumbling again, Henley shook his head. “I was trying to be nice, damn it.”

He’d been stretched out on his stomach on the deck talking to whoever he thought was under the water, so while he’d been nice, I could see why a shy creature of some sort wouldn’t respond to him.